Brazilian Rain Tree Help!

[Rachael]

Hello!

I'm having some worried feelings about my BRT. It's been dropping a lot of leaves, first turning yellow and brittle. I'm not sure if it has something to do with exposed roots or not. Maybe even a fungal infection?

I will show a few pictures. I'm wondering if the exposed bigger roots will eventually harden up and become aerial roots? They started to get a blackish green stuff on them which I tried to pick off... not sure if I did the right thing or if I opened it up to infection... or if it's a fungal infection yikes!

Late in the summer the tree fell and the pot broke on my patio. I brought it in for a quick transplant without disturbing the root system... but the new pot seemed shallow. The roots sit so high up that there's no way to really cover them with soil in the pot it is in. I have trouble with roots being exposed every time I water so I tried putting slightly larger substrate on top to reduce erosion. I plan to re-pot in the late spring.

My biggest concern is that it has a fungal infection and I just opened it up to infection at the roots. I'm hoping it's not fatal.

Please let me know of your expert opinions, advice, and possible treatment plans, course of action. No negative comments please.

 

[Rachael]

* I also want to note that it sits in a south facing window. I water it by pouring water on top and letting it soak in that metal tray. Then I tip the tree to either side to make sure no stagnant water remains at the bottom.

I have been waiting a few days for it to dry out a bit before watering again because it doesn't like to be soggy. And I have it in a humidity tray with glass fish gravel at the bottom. (Some controversy regarding the trays, but it keeps my window sills clean and reduces dripping)

It's winter time in New England and some yellowing of leaves/dropping is supposedly normal. But it seems stressed... I just mixed up a diluted alcohol and water mixture and sprayed the areas that I picked at and then used a hair dryer on low to dry it out. My hopes were to close it up to let it heal.

I just don't like the look of that greenish stuff on it...

Also attached is when it was healthier.. mostly to remind myself of better days.

 

[Timbo]

More info would help, When did you move it inside, Did you use diff soil? How often are you watering? Humidity level in the house? Arial roots on a Rain tree? I'm no BRT expert, i do have some smaller Pith's, I wouldn't pick off the roots, those roots seem wet to me, but i dunno if you can over water a BRT in good soil. I also wouldn't have the roots that exposed, I can't really tell what roots are exposed though, If the small feeder roots aren't covered they will just dry out and die more than likely.

There are a few people on here with BRT's, maybe they will respond. Again I would NEVER peel bark/roots off, just asking for rot and insects IMO.
Eek, i wouldn't dry it out with a hair dryer, roots are suppose to stay damp, if they dry out they will die, esp if the roots are exposed.

 

[Rachael]

I moved it inside late summer before the temperature fell below 60 & I used the same bonsai soil as before which I got from New England Bonsai. I trust their soil quality.

They look wet because the tree just got done soaking. The bigger roots are what I'm referring to, though the smaller feeder roots poke out and I have to recover them each time I water.

I'm also unsure about aerial roots on BRTs. The tree looks like it has legs to me but I'm debating on covering them up because it gives some interest instead of just having a straight trunk from the pot. Unsure if it's harming the tree or not.

"Eek, i wouldn't dry it out with a hair dryer, roots are suppose to stay damp, if they dry out they will die, esp if the roots are exposed."

So should I spray those bigger roots with some water then?

 

[Timbo]

* I also want to note that it sits in a south facing window. I water it by pouring water on top and letting it soak in that metal tray. Then I tip the tree to either side to make sure no stagnant water remains at the bottom.

I have been waiting a few days for it to dry out a bit before watering again because it doesn't like to be soggy. And I have it in a humidity tray with glass fish gravel at the bottom. (Some controversy regarding the trays, but it keeps my window sills clean and reduces dripping)

It's winter time in New England and some yellowing of leaves/dropping is supposedly normal. But it seems stressed... I just mixed up a diluted alcohol and water mixture and sprayed the areas that I picked at and then used a hair dryer on low to dry it out. My hopes were to close it up to let it heal.

I just don't like the look of that greenish stuff on it...

Also attached is when it was healthier.. mostly to remind myself of better days.

TBH, i'd leave it alone for now, until someone else responds. Only thing i'd do is lightly water it if the soil is bone dry, but if anything it looks wet to me. It could just not like some changes in the house like humidity, temps or lighting. When i move my tropical trees inside, a lot of times they drop leaves from the stress. If the humidity gets too low on my Texas ebony and Ficus trees they will drop leaves also. You can kill a tree with too much kindness.

 

[Timbo]

In that after pic i did notice a lot of little roots exposed though, i'd cover them up with whatever damp bonsai soil you use (if they aren't already dried out). I dunno how deep the roots go though.

 

[Rachael]

Its hard to keep the feeder roots covered because the pot doesn't have much of a lip to apply more soil and it all tumbles out. I'm looking forward to repotting it in the spring to correct the issue. I'll post a picture of how deep the pot goes.

 

[Timbo]

That's a pretty deep pot...It's filled with roots? https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/help-brazilian-rain-tree-loosing-green-leaves.35213/ Read the link there...I dunno what your Bonsai Exp level is but that describes BRT's. Dropping leaves for indoor tropical trees is normal in the sense that they will drop leaves if they are unhappy with lighting and all the things i said before. I'm not going to say you don't have any bugs or disease but it can do that on stress alone.

 

[Rachael]

I picked up and out of the broken pot, which was easy because the pot cracked into separate pieces, and then I just wired it back into the new pot and filled with the soil/poked around to fill any remaining areas.

I bought this Bonsai last year and upon seeing the root system out of the broken pot, I noticed it was pretty root bound. But it was too late in the season to start pulling and breaking everything up so I just settled for putting it in a slightly larger pot and filling in the edges.

As I said before, I will be repotting in the spring and plan to break up those roots and make it fit evenly in the pot.

 

[Timbo]

As I said before, I will be repotting in the spring and plan to break up those roots and make it fit evenly in the pot.

How is your tree doing? Came across this site today, the repotting section peaked my interest as they don't like to be root bound or too much organic matter. I dunno if that's the issue or not...others here with BRT exp, I wouldn't know how root bound they can stand or how the tree responds to being root bound.

 

[LanceMac10]

Three years in a pot....


.....after the "what for" on the roots with a Sawzall......


….bark in the mix, by the way....

 

[Timbo]

Wow, Did the tree struggle that rootbound?

 

[LanceMac10]

Not really. You have to beat on these to get flowers!!!

These things are nearly bullet-proof. Wouldn't go past three years without a repot, though. Might be tough to extricate!

...month later in a really, really shallow pot.....




...burned-out the growing tips, pushed new buds right behind those,(flicked off with the finger, fresh bud right there!) flowered on that subsequent growth. Not suggested, tree watered three-four times a day in summer....ain't nobody got time for that!!! Once I "figured" this out, in '17 put it in a huge micah pot to grow some trunk......



@Rachael I don't think that anything is "wrong" with your tree. Typical pouty winter look......and no more blow-dryers!!!

 

[bonhe]

Hello!

I'm having some worried feelings about my BRT. It's been dropping a lot of leaves, first turning yellow and brittle. I'm not sure if it has something to do with exposed roots or not. Maybe even a fungal infection?
.

Hi Rachael,
The signs are looked fine to me. It may have combination of normal reaction with cold weather and dry warm environment inside the house. You may check inside humidity. If it is less than 60%, then you may have to use humidifier, not only good for the plant but also for human health. I think the tree is not really exposed root much, but if you are worry about, you can get moist sphagnum moss to wrap around this area.
I'd like to show you my tree, so you can feel better! I just took these pictures this morning.


It has some yellow leaves with some dark areas. It looks completely fine to me.


and the tree was on 4/14/18


Thụ Thoại

 

[Carol 83]

Not really. You have to beat on these to get flowers!!!

These things are nearly bullet-proof. Wouldn't go past three years without a repot, though. Might be tough to extricate!

...month later in a really, really shallow pot.....

View attachment 221017


...burned-out the growing tips, pushed new buds right behind those,(flicked off with the finger, fresh bud right there!) flowered on that subsequent growth. Not suggested, tree watered three-four times a day in summer....ain't nobody got time for that!!! Once I "figured" this out, in '17 put it in a huge micah pot to grow some trunk......

View attachment 221020

@Rachael I don't think that anything is "wrong" with your tree. Typical pouty winter look......and no more blow-dryers!!!

Good to know about the repotting. My little $5 eBay win will be in the pot I put it in 3 years ago this summer. Just happen to have @Soldano666 working on a new pot for it coincidentally....

 

[Rachael]

How is your tree doing?

Hey Timbo! Thank you for following up.. It's Christmas here in Massachusetts and it snowed yesterday. Not sure how much sunlight we got but it seems to be doing the same as before. Still some healthy green leaves and some yellowing/brown that shrivel up. I've been carefully picking those off as I see them... also not sure if I should be doing that pruning to my tree, or if it's best to leave them on. I was just hoping that with those gone it would have a better chance of giving nutrients to the rest of the leaves.

But! It's not dead which is great. After reading a few others comments I feel better now about the whole thing. Merry Christmas!

 

[Rachael]

Three years in a pot.
….bark in the mix, by the way.

I'm not quite sure how old my tree is but I'm guessing it isn't too old. I just got it last year and they said it could go another season without a re-pot. But they were wrong. I guess it was a good thing that it fell on my patio because I wouldn't have known how bad it really was.

Looking at your reference photo of your "3 year in one pot" it looks similar to what mine did but it wasn't solid like concrete. That could be a reason why it's acting grumpy though. Thank you for your input!

As far as bark in the mix... will that eventually breakdown over the years time and become too much organic matter? I know that too much organic matter can leave things soggy in there. Small pieces of bark in the mix then?

 

[Rachael]

[QUOTE="LanceMac10, post: l don't think that anything is "wrong" with your tree. Typical pouty winter look......and no more blow-dryers![/QUOTE]

Lol! Thank you for your pictures too! So if I keep it in this deep pot I should be able to get a thicker trunk?

And I won't use the blow dryer again. It was just soaking for a while and I didn't want it to get "infected". Does that apply to trees?

If it had just been soaking in water for about an hour and I picked at the bark... which I now know never to do... it could ooze and be all sickly right? So diluting some alcohol and water and then drying it slightly with cool air... would seal it up so it could heal better rather than being wet and open?

 

[Rachael]

Hi Rachael,
The signs are looked fine to me. It may have combination of normal reaction with cold weather and dry warm environment inside the house. You may check inside humidity. If it is less than 60%, then you may have to use humidifier, not only good for the plant but also for human health. I think the tree is not really exposed root much, but if you are worry about, you can get moist sphagnum moss to wrap around this area.
I'd like to show you my tree, so you can feel better! Thụ Thoại

Thank you for your photos and input. I'm wondering if the humidifier would attract mold to any of my other trees? 60% humidity would be okay or is there an optimum H level.

This is my first BRT and it's all new to me. I appreciate any good feedback you could give me through this learning process. I love your tree, beautiful, handsome! My Brazilian Rain Tree is named- Chuva which means "Rain" in Portuguese.

Happy Holidays!

 

[bonhe]

Thank you for your photos and input. I'm wondering if the humidifier would attract mold to any of my other trees? 60% humidity would be okay or is there an optimum H level.

This is my first BRT and it's all new to me. I appreciate any good feedback you could give me through this learning process. I love your tree, beautiful, handsome! My Brazilian Rain Tree is named- Chuva which means "Rain" in Portuguese.

Happy Holidays!

Thanks.
You can keep the humidity inside the house around 40-45% and should be fine, too.
Yes, if the temperature is warm and humidity inside, you can get fungal problem .
I like your tree’s name. It is really cool.
Happy Holiday
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